Great great great great Grandmother Maria's Green Tomato Relish

R

richard-in-cincy

Well-known member
The Germans love their pickles. What can I say? When I was a child I absolutely hated this. Then later, when my taste buds matured, I couldn't get enough of it. Grandma went to the beauty shop on Wednesdays after work to get her hair done. The evening before, she cooked a pot of beans and we had beans and ham, fried potatoes, corncakes fried in lard, and this relish. I heaped spoonfuls of it on by beans. Now that the fall has descended we will have many green tomatoes and this is what you do with them (if you don't fry them breaded with cornmeal).

10 quarts of green tomatoes

1 large head of cabbage

8 large onions

1 quart of white vinegar

1/2 cup of salt

2 lbs. of sugar

8 mangoes--red, green, and hot peppers to your taste

Grind the veg. We had one of those cast iron crank jobs that I spent many hours cranking.

Put it all in the big pot and bring it to a boil. Seal in jars.

When I lived with Grandma, we would make 6 times this recipe so that she could can it. I would go with Grandma to the garden, pick the vegetables, and then the crank grinder that was fastened onto the picnic table and I would spend hours grinding all of this. As the years went by, Grandmother would add more and more hot peppers into the mix. Her last batch in 1985 was deadly.

 
As long as we are into antique relish recipes I will offer Bell and Effie's Potsfield Pickle

My former husband had twin old mail aunts. They made this every year and the adults in the family received a jar for Christmas and the children a pair of hand knit mittens. I used to make it and can it but no more although I loved it. I gave away the grinder Richard mentions. I'll submit it as they wrote it. Parenthesis are mine.

3 quarts green tomatoes (5 1/2 pounds)
3 quarts ripe tomatoes
2 quarts onions
6 red sweet peppers
2 bunches of celery

Put all thru food cutter. Add 1/2 cup of salt. Let stand over night. Drain in the morning. Add 1 1/4 quarts vinegar, 3 pounds of sugar (7 cups), 1 teasp cinn, 1 teasp cloves, 1/2 C white mustard seed. Bring to boiling point and let cook twenty minutes. Seal with paraffin when cool. Makes 11 pts.

PS We do not put ripe tomatoes thru chopper. Peel these and put them in with other ingredients in morning when cooking. Have fun and nice pickle. BAR and ELR

 
I still have one of those grinders...

and bring it out when I want to grind up veggies for relish.

It also has disks for bread crumbs and nut butter. I've never tried either of those.

 
I know the old timers lived to a ripe old age using these things but I suspected mine, and others,

Contained a lot of lead so out it went.

 
Aw, I remember my parents grinding vegetables, seemingly forever, to can for the winter. Later when

they came to visit me, I brought out the Cuisinart to chop a bunch of veg only to see the 2 of them staring with their mouths open. My mom said..."look Cecil, do you remember the hours and hours we used to spend doing that chopping?" I almost felt guilty.

I never liked the smell of the metal of that grinder. But remember it well.

I wish I had some green tomatoes to try your grandma's relish.

 
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